Speaking candidly, I find pretty much any collection of curlers that I stumble across to be a very interesting lot.

That said, the group that gathered for the Opening Bonspiel last weekend at the Northern Credit Union Community Centre (NCUCC) in Sudbury was likely a bit more interesting than most.

Sure, there were the familiar faces.

Running into Piper Croisier as I was entering the facility is hardly a shocking turn of events, the 23 year-old Laurentian University student a mainstay around local rinks since we first chatted way back in 2016 or so.

Curling with much of the Voyageurs ladies team for the 2026-2027 season (skip Bella Croisier; Piper at vice; Mya Smith at second; Valerie Ouimet at lead), the L.U. reps made it through to the “A” bracket semi-finals before being eliminated as they look to balance their respective academic and athletic schedules.

“For three out of six of us, it’s our last season for varsity curling,” said Croisier, who is adding a masters in Business to the Sports Administration undergraduate degree already in her possession. “We definitely want to succeed at OUAs (Ontario University Athletics) and make it to U Sports, if possible.”

With Piper tied up with her MBA and older sister Bella now on her second masters (Chemical Science), their years of trekking to countless bonspiel outposts across Ontario is most likely behind that – at least for the time being.

“For us, our focus will be on the leagues a lot,” said the graduate of Marymount Academy who was a double national champion back in 2018-2019, capturing gold at both the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer and the Canadian U18 Curling Championships in Sherwood Park – both in Alberta, as luck would have it.

“As much time as we can get together with leagues or tournaments is really important before we get to the OUAs.”

Even with the challenges, hopes are high for this current edition of Voyageurs (which also includes Kelton Tellier and Leanna Delich). “We competed with the same (four person) lineup last year, so we’re going into this season with quite the advantage,” said Croisier.

“Even before, we had decades of experience competing against each other and knowing each other.”

As for 2027-2028 and beyond, time will tell.

“I definitely want to continue in the women’s circuit, post-varsity,” said Croisier. “What that looks like, I have no idea.”

If the L.U. ladies were among the known commodities I encountered at the Howey Drive based club on Sunday, the Deanna Chilton team from Timmins are among the “partially well-known” grouping.

By virtue of covering rinks skipped by locals such as Kameron Tellier, Mia Toner and Sophie Perreault, there has been an awareness developed of the young Chilton crew which attended the 2024 New Holland Canadian Juniors in Fort McMurray, among their many accomplishments closer to home.

This year, the skip and recent graduate of Ecole secondaire Thériault in Timmins joins current vice Rhya Baker as first year students at Collège Boréal – and also as part of the field of the Opening Bonspiel, laying claimed to the Division “C” title on Sunday.

“This was really just a chance to shake off the cobwebs,” said Chilton, who was joined by younger sister Kendall (grade 10 at Thériault) as well as Baker and long-time teammate Natalie Graham, just beginning her second year of studies at Brock University in St Catharines.

“We haven’t curled in a while. We also wanted to figure out team dynamics before heading into the bigger events – and I think that worked,” added Chilton, as her team welcomes Baker, a one-time skip out of the Horne Granite Club to the fold for 2026-2027.

“We jive well. I think that was the goal, to figure out what’s going with this team – and I think we did that.”

Much like Croisier and company, the advent of post-secondary studies and gradual dispersal of team members to various areas to pursue studies and careers has forced Team Chilton, still eligible to compete towards U20 Nationals, the need to re-examine their slate of bonspiels.

“We definitely had to tone it down a little bit because of how busy we all are,” said the confident last-rock thrower. “We have a couple of events before provincials – and we’ll head to women’s provincials in Thunder Bay and then U20 provincials (February 17th to 21st in Long Lac).”

While her roster may have varied slightly since her debut in competitive curling in the bantam ranks, her slot in the quartet has rarely differed for Deanna Chilton. “I’ve always been a skip and always loved it,” she said. “I like to direct; I like being in control.”

And what of those inevitable misses with a game on the line?

“When you miss that shot, it can be hard for a while, but I’ve got the support of my teammates, my coach, our mental coach – the support of everyone around me,” said Chilton. “And I think I manage it pretty well.”

“That is what the game is all about if you’re a skip.”

Please forgive Joshua Fleming if he hasn’t quite wrapped his mind just yet around that concept.

If Piper Croisier was a quasi-expected crossing with my path and Deanna Chilton was a pleasant surprise, then Joshua Fleming qualifies as the “did not see this coming” interview on the weekend.

A member of the staff at NCUCC, the 20 year-old is a native of Bermuda and student at Cambrian College (Electrical), with all of one year under his belt in terms of time spent in Sudbury. Yet both he and his fellow employees are excited to introduce the young man who is far more familiar with soccer and cricket to their wintertime passion.

“I had not really done much research into curling,” said Fleming, who was attracted to Cambrian because the local institution maintains strong ties with Bermuda – and the fact that his older sister attended the college a few years ago.

“I have a couple of friends that curl and I kind of saw it as a good fit and so I came out here.”

Though he has yet to actual deliver a stone or two (that should happen soon), Fleming has been gleaning the advice of the diehards who virtually live in the club, learning some nuances while just having an innate feel for others.

“They all say it’s harder than it looks,” said Fleming. “I think I can do the scrubs, the sweeping – and I figured the ice would be slippery.”

Remaining divisional winners included: “A champions: Kendra Lilly, Lauren Rajala, Ray Joanisse, Owen Allard; B champions: Krysta Burns, Laura Forget, Kendra Carriere, Rodney Guy; D champions: Scott Thom, Suzie Sardinha, Felix Legendre, Faith Legendre.

Finally, a second straight set of congratulations go out to the Sandy MacEwan rink of Dustin Montpellier, Olivier Bonin-Ducharme, Luc Ouimet and Lee Toner who once again rode an undefeated round robin record to a bonspiel victory, this time in Stroud.

The NCUCC quintet picked up the top prize money at the Stroud Sleeman Cash Spiel after following up on their 4-0 mark with playoff wins over Jacob Lamb (8-6 in SF) and Scott Foster (8-1 in Final), making it two for two in tournament play this fall.